These improvements were well received; however, we understand there is a pent up need for many additional capabilities. As such, we are beginning the process of planning the next release of Office and would like to solicit your input.

At this time, I want to focus on new types of visualizations that you would like Office to support in the future. There has been a lot of innovation in the industry over the last several years â€“ things ranging from tag clouds to Voronoi TreeMaps. However, Iâ€™m sure many of you are aware that we have not added any new chart types for several releases. This is a trend we would like to change.

Please provide us feedback on the questions below but feel free to add additional details. This information will be used as a starting point to better understand scenarios and trends.

1. Types of VisualizationsWhat visualization types are you using that arenâ€™t native to Excel or Office? These could be provided by addins, competitive products, or creative workarounds to our current chart types.

2. ScenariosFor what purposes are you using these visualizations? In essence, how and why are you using them?

3. ExamplesCan you provide any examples (screen shots or descriptions) of the visualization types you are using?

4. Follow-upCould we contact you to further explore your usage of these visualization types? Please provide your contact information by emailing us directly.

While Iâ€™m sure you have many other great ideas for new features, Iâ€™d like to keep this discussion focused on new types of visualizations. In future articles, we may be soliciting your feedback on other areas.